OPINION: RUGBY CULTURE AT UNI NEEDS SERIOUS CHANGE

ON THE 15TH of June of this year, former British and Irish Lion and current Pundit, Ugo Monye, wrote an article in the Daily Telegraph with the headline, “Rugby union must tackle ‘heavy drinking culture’ and ‘laddish behaviour’” sparking a debate amongst the rugby circles of Twittersphere.

This fed into current discourse on the current place of rugby, its image and the general health of the sport whilst the world continues to grasp with COVID-19’s consequences and the cost-of-living crisis.

For me, someone who has stopped playing rugby twice because of being uncomfortable with teams’ infamous off-field behaviour, that article by Monye, who as a current Question of Sport captain remains an influential figure within the game, in a big broadsheet paper is a welcome move, albeit it does still make me question as to whether enough is being done both at the highest levels and at local ones too.

Nonetheless, his article made me reflect on my own experiences of collegiate rugby at the University of York as I entered into my second year.

In my first year, I signed up to play for Heslington East RFC (otherwise known as HesEast), the rugby team which represents the East Campus colleges of Constantine, Goodricke and Langwith.

On the pitch in 2021-22, the team enjoyed another unbeaten season and a pretty remarkable Varsity Cup win.

Yet off the field, the team had been embroiled in controversy which had failed to have been addressed by university authorities or been reported properly by the media.

I first quit rugby in January 2020 because the team I played for were too focused on the night out rather than the game beforehand. Then obviously the pandemic came along, which meant although I did take up rugby again, restrictions meant I wasn’t able to take to the field till August 2021, just before I started studying at York.

In short, I had really hoped that I could get back into playing the sport I love again while at university.

However, last year I only played four games, three for HesEast and one for the Uni 2nds. Not only was getting to the ‘22 pitches an absolute pain from Constantine College, and the usual dosage of third year favouritism (that admittedly plagues most university societies) preventing freshers from game time, but because I had been to barely any socials, I hardly knew the players on the rugby team.

I didn’t go on socials because getting myself drunk to the point of vomiting and doing frankly disgusting dares and challenges is not my idea of fun.

And because I didn’t go on socials I didn’t know the players (specifically the seniors) well enough, therefore I hardly played any games of rugby last year. Rugby, like any collegiate sport, requires a lot of effort, and I wasn’t enjoying it enough or even feeling comfortable enough to attend again this year.

Mix the toxic culture, the favouritism that’s based on who is the most ‘fun’ on nights out rather than playing ability, the lack of communication, the welfare support system in place at HesEast that was there in name last season, and you have the reasons for why so few freshers are actually bothering to turn up to socials and training in the first place.

University rugby culture already has a bad reputation as it is nationally and within the rugby circles of the media, and at the University of York absolutely nothing substantial is being done to fix this.

Thus, leaving players like me